Just days following the announcement of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg that he is taking two months of leave due to the birth of his first child, the social networking giant introduced a four-month paid parental leave for all new fathers.
Facebook's new parental leave policy, before it was announced, is already available to some of its employees. The latest announcement only extended its coverage to all full-time Facebook employee, regardless of gender or location.
In a statement obtained by The Guardian, Facebook head of human resources Lori Matloff Goler said, "Our approach to benefits at Facebook is to support our employees and the people who matter most to them. We want to be there for our people at all stages of life, and in particular we strive to be a leading place to work for families."
According to The Wall Street Journal, the social networking giant is joining the ranks of tech companies like Netflix, Amazon and Microsoft in extending parental leave of their employees. Many analysts said that extending paid-leave for employees is good way to address the common perception that Silicon Valley people are workaholics.
Currently, only the social networking giant is the only company in the United States that offer four months paid leave to its employees. The new benefits will take effect on Jan. 1 2016 to all Facebook employees that are employed full-time.
CEO Zuckerberg and wife Priscilla Chan announced in July that they are having their first baby. The couple are expecting a baby girl.